Davis seeks inmate help with food distribution

Bishop Davis, with Davis Temple church in Holly Springs, sought support from the board of supervisors to allow inmates to help distribute food at mobile pantries at the May 20 meeting.

He said inmates in DeSoto County, Lafayette County and Tippah County are helping with distribution of food at mobile pantries.

District 4 supervisor George Zinn III said he was asked by Davis to see if inmates could be allowed to help with food distribution. The pantries provide free food for those who need it, he said.

Zinn said he called Ron King with the state to see if inmates can be placed in the county to help with food distribution and that King encouraged it.

“He felt like that was a form of rehabilitation,” Zinn said. “If it is not anything illegal about it, I’d like to allow them to assist poor people with distribution at pantries and mobiles.”

County attorney Amanda Whaley Smith said it is unfortunate the legislative session is concluded for the year. The county could have asked for a Local and Private Bill, she said.

But to use inmate help without legislation would be considered a private donation, she said. She said the other counties would have to have Local & Private bills in order to use inmate help at pantries.

The session just closed and the requests will have to be presented to the legislature next year, Smith said.

District 1 supervisor Charles Terry thanked Davis for the service they provide for the communities.

Davis said the mobile pantry serves about 300 people each month from the Mid-South food mobile. Churches also distribute food on an as needed basis and Davis estimated about 7,200

people are served through church pantries.

Zinn said his organization distributes food in DeSoto, Tippah, Lafayette and other counties.

W.D. Fitts, of Byhalia, sought relief from the board of supervisors regarding land use. He said he has about 20 acres of land at Goodman Road and Sloan Road and found two subdivisions were overlaid on it. He wants to change the use from agricultural residential to commercial and sell it. He said he cannot find the covenants on the property on the deed and the only use for now is to put a house on it.

The land would be more valuable if sold for commercial use, he said.

“I’m sitting there with land I can’t do anything with,” Fitts said.

He said he had a buyer but the deal fell through so he took the property back December 4, 2023.

“We’ve been in limbo trying to get something done since then,” Fitts said.

He said zoning could not approve rezoning the property because of the defective deed.

“I’m near 90 years old and I don’t want to leave this with my grandchildren,” he said.

He said the neighborhood in the area is changing and a solar farm has been built on a nearby farm.

“The whole place over there is changing and I would like to sell my property at a commercial price,” Fitts said.

Terry asked if the problem was the deed or an ordinance. Smith said the property was a subdivision that was never recorded.

Zoning administrator David Johnson said the problem is that in older deeds any restrictions are written on the deed.

“The only issue at hand is the 1970 deed says agricultural (use) only,” Johnson said.

Smith said restrictions on deeds cannot be removed by the board of supervisors but only by a chancery court judge.

Terry said the board has no authority to reconcile the matter.

Smith suggested Fitts obtain an attorney to draft a petition to request the judge to remove the restriction on the deed. Either judge Whitwell or Little would preside over the request.

Smith said Fitts could request the restriction be removed himself.

“But it is not an easy guaranteed thing,” she said. “The board’s hands are tied, just like the planning commission’s hands are tied.”

Smith offered to draft a letter clarifying the board’s position to give Fitts.

Fitts said the board could recommend his request be reviewed.

“We can’t recommend,” Smith said. “You have to be the one to request it by filing a petition with chancery court. You would be acting on your behalf. That’s all you have to stand on.”